19
Feb

Earlier this week I stopped by Canada’s Northern House Pavillion on Hastings & Seymour. It’s a huge two level pavilion that seems to be drawing big lineups but since they let in 40 people at a time, the lines move quickly. Lots of interactive displays and live performances for the whole family.

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

We also had an impromptu True North Media House meetup there as it seemed fitting.

Canada's Northern House Pavilion

Dave Olson even recorded a podcast with me and a number of others while there.

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During the Olympics, more people will visit the pavilion than actually live in Canada’s North.

08
Feb

Tonight I got to check out the large tent pavilion for my home province and it was pretty impressive.

Ontario House Pavilion

It was the first ‘tent’ I’ve been in so far for the Olympics…many are popping up all over town to accommodate large groups of people. It didn’t feel like a tent at all once inside.

At Ontario House for their preview event #tnmh

What surprised me was the amount of technology inside….it was a showcase of a lot of innovation that was created in Ontario.

By far the coolest thing was the Interaxon demonstration where you wear a headset with sensors on it that allow you to control one of three Ontario landmark light shows with your mind. I chose to control the CN Tower’s lights.

Ontario House Pavilion

Using your alpha and beta waves that the sensors pick up, I was able to slow down or speed up the lights that were on the outside of the CN Tower – there was a live video feed of all the landmarks so you could see in realtime if you were affecting the lights.

Ontario House Pavilion

We then headed over to the 4D Theatre where we got to see a six minute movie in….wait for it….4D! Can you guess what the extra dimension is? It was a slick tourism movie that definitely reminded me of where I grew up.

Ontario House Pavilion

Ontario House Pavilion

There was also a number of Microsoft Surface tables and 3D TVs scattered around the House….no glasses required which was pretty wild…it truly worked. There was even a videogame you could play via Blackberries (made by RIM who is based in Ontario) that was in 3D.

Definitely an impressive showcase…and they’re planning on having a ton of free concerts at Ontario House during the Games. Rebecca has the full lineup if you want to check it out.